Approximately ten percent of the adult male population suffers from some degree of erectile dysfunction. A number of treatment methods are known, and the use of vacuum constriction devices is considered to be the least invasive and most successful of the non-medical therapies available. The principle underlying vacuum tumescence therapy is that a satisfactory erection can be produced by way of a vacuum chamber or cylinder which draws blood into the corporeal bodies. The erection is maintained by placement of an elastic constriction ring adjacent the abdomen. The cylinder is then removed providing a satisfactory erectile state until the ring is removed.
A substantial drawback of the vacuum constriction device method of therapy is that an estimated 30 to 40 percent of potential users experience the problem of abdominal and/or scrotal bulges. Problems of this nature are caused by a bulge of loose abdominal tissue being drawn into the cylinder when vacuum is applied and then entrapped when the ring is applied. Alternatively, the similar problem of scrotal bulge results from a portion of the scrotal tissue being drawn into the cylinder and then entrapped. Of the 30 to 40 percent of users experiencing this problem, approximately half simply cannot use this type of therapy due to bulge problems. The remaining half are able to use the therapy, but the results are less than entirely satisfactory.
Thus, there presently exists a need for preventing the formation of abdominal and scrotal bulges in vacuum tumescence therapy.